Three grown prodigies, all with a unique genius of some kind, and their mother are staying at the family household. Their father, Royal had left them long ago, and comes back to make things right with his family.Written by
MonkeyKingMA
The scene where Richie (Luke Wilson) punches the glass in Mordecai's pen was unscripted, this was improvised by Wilson on the spot, and the scene quickly cuts to Richie and Ralleigh (Bill Murray) talking up close, this is because when Wilson punched the glass, co-writer and director Wes Anderson thought he seriously hurt himself. See more »
Goofs
When Margot and Royal are watching the Peter Bradley Show together in Ritchie's room, the door to the hallway is clearly open. However, when Ritchie enters the room from the hallway, he has to open the (now fully closed) door. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Narrator:
Royal Tenenbaum bought the house on Archer Avenue in the winter of his 35th year. Over the next decade, he and his wife had three children, and then they separated.
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Crazy Credits
The film title first appears on a library book being checked out, then several of the books are seen, and finally the book cover becomes a title card. See more »
Alternate Versions
Three different songs were used for the final sequence at various points. Some advance screenings (including the New York Film Festival version) featured the Beatles' "I'm Looking Through You" (not the "official" version, but rather the alternate version available on the "Anthology 2" CD set), while others used the Beach Boys' "Sloop John B." The final version of the scene is accompanied by Van Morrison's "Everyone." See more »
I think it's unfortunate that some of those who liked this film imply that anyone who found it a waste of time is a boor, who is only interested in Jim Carrey style films. There are some very off-beat, "arty" films that I enjoy a great deal. This was not one of them, though. To me, it was "okay", but certainly not great. The humor was very subtle. I got most of the "jokes" (or humorous aspects, really, more than jokes) that people have mentioned, but they just weren't all that funny, to me. Maybe I actually sympathized with the characters too much; the humor was overwhelmed by the sadness of their situations.
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I think it's unfortunate that some of those who liked this film imply that anyone who found it a waste of time is a boor, who is only interested in Jim Carrey style films. There are some very off-beat, "arty" films that I enjoy a great deal. This was not one of them, though. To me, it was "okay", but certainly not great. The humor was very subtle. I got most of the "jokes" (or humorous aspects, really, more than jokes) that people have mentioned, but they just weren't all that funny, to me. Maybe I actually sympathized with the characters too much; the humor was overwhelmed by the sadness of their situations.